Current and Future Challenges of European Cooperation and Transatlantic Security

Rastislav ValentovicDiscussions, Unfiled

University Debates Workshop

October 14, 2019

MESA10, in cooperation with its partner, Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Belgrade (CEAS), launched the continuation of the project of innovative online debates between the university students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia “Strengthening Democratic Values Among Youth”.

Students from seven universities from Banska Bystrica, Belgrade, Bratislava, Chisinau, Novi Sad, Podgorica and Sarajevo had the opportunity to attend the workshop “Current and Future Challenges of European Cooperation and Transatlantic Security” with Tomáš Valášek, the Director of Carnegie Europe.

Mr. Valášek deliberated on the current and future challenges faced by transatlantic community. As he kicked out the discussion: “I am a convinced Atlantist, but I going to say a few critical words about US-European relations today”.

Mr. Valášek structured the workshop around the following three questions:

  1. What is happening in United States?
  2. What is happening in defense domain in Europe?
  3. What kind of concerns should the Atlantists, who are committed to stability of Europe, address?

Following are the quotes that the students can take away for the discussion before the upcoming 70th anniversary NATO Summit in London are the following:

Can Europeans replace the United States and NATO? “The reality is, the United States is and for the next twenty to thirty years will remain indispensable for dealing with any situation”.

Does this mean that Europe should do nothing, and we should continue to rely on the United States completely? “No, not at all. There is an awful lot that is needed for the defense of this continent that NATO is not doing because it lacks the mandate to do so. (…) Do what Europeans can do that NATO is not designed to do”.

Is the Alliance mainly transactional? “…each European country has its security concerns that rely on help from each other. At the end of the day, most allies realize that we have different concerns and it is much cheaper to address those concerns together”.

More information can be found on the project page and Facebook platform University Debates.